CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-2.7python-import
Lwood
Lwood

Reputation: 350

python not importing from current directory

I'm using python 2.7 in a linux environment and I'm having trouble importing a .py file under certain conditions. My directory-tree is as follows:

/mainFolder
    executable.py
    /Folder
         input_file.py

executable.py imports input_file.py with the line __import__('input_file')

When I am in the folder mainFolder/Folder and I run ../executable.py I get the output: ImportError: No module named input_file

And when I move input_file.py into mainFolder it works. From looking at it I'm under the impression that input_file.py isn't in python's path and I know how to fix that.

I'm under the impression though that it should work as is, as this is code that is from a github repository and presumably works on the author's computer, but this is apparently not the case.

Is there a setting I can change so I don't have to do something like sys.path.append(0,'mainFolder/Folder')?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 7056

Answers (2)

Andre Pastore
Andre Pastore

Reputation: 2907

"Packages" in python are identified by a file called

__init__.py

in the root of this package folder.

In this case, your tree should appears like:

/mainFolder
    executable.py
    /Folder
         **__init__.py**
         input_file.py

In this case, if you want import module: input_file as a module, you can declare in executable:

from Folder import input_file

or even

from Folder.input_file import *
from Folder import *

As alternative and following explanation found in this response, I implemented an example for your directory structure:

executable.py file content:

Folder = __import__('Folder.input_file')
print(Folder.input_file.summm(1,2))

input_file.py file content:

def summm(a, b):
    return a+b

It is ugly, but was the to build an example following your original structure. In this case, it is not ncessary to add __init__.py file inside Folder folder.

Upvotes: 3

Patrick Abraham
Patrick Abraham

Reputation: 280

You can easily fix it

import Folder.input_file

or 

__import__('Folder.input_file')

Where Folder is the name of the folder input_file.py is in.

Upvotes: 0

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